


First Day of School

by tansypool



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-03-22
Packaged: 2018-03-19 00:38:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3589758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tansypool/pseuds/tansypool
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It isn't as though Edmure hasn't had one-night stands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Day of School

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt floating around Tumblr: “hey we hooked up last night and it turns out you are my child's teacher” au.

She was always like her mother, their Aliandra. She met the world through her Tully-blue eyes with the ferocity that only Arianne could imbue in a child, and given she spent most of her time with her mother, Edmure was not surprised.

But with Ali beginning primary school, Edmure had wanted to be close enough to watch her grow up. After more paperwork than he would have liked, and seven rental applications, he was walking distance to her school, and driving distance to Arianne’s house – which he was glad for, even if it meant he was also driving distance to a small army of former inlaws who all bore a grudge despite the divorce being highly mutual.

Though with moving across a city, Edmure also found himself knowing nobody in the area, which is how he wound up at a pub on a Saturday night, nursing a beer and surveying the crowd. He’d startled at the gentle touch of a woman’s hand on his shoulder, and barely stammered out a _Yes_ at a murmured _Are you here alone?_

They’d talked for hours, about everything and nothing, though Edmure had been hesitant to suggest anything of his daughter – that was a conversation for another time. The woman, whose name he had eventually learned was Roslin, had moved to this part of town to get away from her extended family, and had wanted to be in a band when she was younger, though she’d lost the drive for that after she graduated university.

“I can’t completely let it go, though”, she’d laughed, as she opened her purse to reveal a harmonica and a pitch pipe.

When the music playing over the speakers had stopped and the patrons wandered outside, he found himself facing her, not ready to let the night go. He was shocked at himself when he’d murmured, “Can I kiss you goodnight?”

He was more shocked when she had wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him into a kiss that was most definitely _not_ just saying goodnight.

* * *

He’d woken the next morning to the sound of the kettle boiling, and wandered into his kitchen to find Roslin in the shirt he had been wearing the night before reaching almost to her knees, absently running a tea towel over two of the cups that had been draining on the sink since some time the previous week.

“Good morning.” It wasn’t Edmure’s first one-night stand, but it was the first where he had woken up to find the woman neither gone nor hungover, and so he found himself standing awkwardly in the doorway, watching as Roslin made tea in his kitchen, as though she lived there.

She’d smiled, though, as she returned with a drawn-out “Morning.”

They’d left it at a slightly uneasy silence, until Roslin had walked to the fridge to find milk, and stopped at a picture that Ali had drawn that was attached with magnets.

“You have a child?”

 _Oh seven hells._ “Ali—Ali. She’s five. Her mother and I are divorced; we divorced three years ago, and she doesn’t hate me but we’re very divorced.” _I need to stop rambling._ “She’s five and she’s starting prep soon. I moved across town so I could see her more when she’s at school because I wasn’t seeing her very much. And I should have said this last night but I still don’t know how to approach this and…”

He trailed off at the sight of Roslin chewing her lip slightly, but she didn’t say anything further. Just, “How much milk do you take?”

They had sat at the kitchen table with their tea, Roslin combing the tangles of her hair out and, despite the conversation still flowing, Edmure could not help but notice that she was slightly uneasy since the conversation about Ali.

Eventually she had dressed to leave, with a “Thank you for last night” and a kiss to his cheek that lingered for just a second longer than necessary.

It was only after she had left that he realised that he didn’t have her number.

* * *

Arianne had agreed that Ali could go to her father’s new house after her first day at school – they hadn’t bought anything for her bedroom there aside from the bed itself, and if she was going to be staying there, she needed more than just the bare minimum. Though she had also insisted on going out for ice-cream before they went shopping.

Edmure had arrived at the school a few minutes before the bell, and he could see in the distance a class sitting on the oval with a teacher playing her guitar. At the sound of the bell, the kids jumped up, and the group walked into a nearby classroom. A moment later, they rushed out of the door again, their teacher (now sans guitar) in tow, and children from other rooms joining in the crowd. A couple of children saw their parents elsewhere, and hurriedly hugged the teacher before running to meet them.

Ali was walking more slowly, chewing the end of her pigtail – a habit she had not lost no matter how many times both he and Arianne had told her off for it. She was talking animatedly to her teacher, a young woman with wide eyes and brown hair and—oh.

He had barely had time to register this before a squeal of “Daddy!” preceded Ali running towards him. He bent down to pick her up, and gently tugged the end of her pigtail from her mouth. She grinned as she launched into a story about Miss Frey and her guitar and her singing and how she loves school _so much_ , but though Edmure was only watching her, Ali noticed as _Miss Frey_ wandered over to say hello, and buried her face in Edmure’s neck.

“Hi, Edmure.”

“Roslin.” _Of all the women in town I could have slept with…_

Roslin, to her credit, did not look remotely as awkward as Edmure felt. “Ali did very well at school today.”

He tilted his head to see Ali smiling from where she was leaning against his shoulder. “That’s great!” He bounced her slightly against his hip, and felt her giggle.

“I’m sure she’ll tell you all about it.”

“I’m sure she will.” He smiled awkwardly, and turned to leave, but stopped at the touch of a hand on his shoulder.

“I’d like to tell you more, too.” Roslin’s smile appeared to be just as awkward, though completely genuine. “We should catch up.”

“We should.” And neither of them could hold back a smile, even with a child clinging to Edmure and kids running around the yard around them.

As Edmure walked away with Ali, she said, quite bluntly, “Is Miss Frey your _girlfriend_?”

“She’s a friend.” _For now, anyway._


End file.
